Science Gains in an Engineering Unit using Digital Fabrication
Abstract: The Laboratory School for Advanced Manufacturing was established as a bricks-and-mortar test bed by the University of Virginia in collaboration with the Albemarle and Charlottesville school systems to identify effective ways of connecting engineering to other content areas. The connections between engineering and science makes invention a natural way to facilitate the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for increased integration of engineering in science teaching. Students who use engineering design will be able to ground their science in personal experience and increase their understanding of scientific principles in the process (Bull, Bredder, Standish, & Malcolm, 2013). The engineering design process provides key relevance because most real-world problems are not well defined (Roberts, 1995).